Hamas

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 26, 2015

Amnesty International report accuses Palestinian groups, including military wing of Hamas, of war crimes and flagrant disregard of civilian lives during summer 2014 war in Gaza. MORE

Mar. 8, 2015

Nicholas Kristof Op-Ed column underscores degree of misery for Palestinians in Gaza six months after latest Israeli conflict there, with thousands of homeless people enduring harsh winter conditions; notes that plight of Gazans is result of Israeli siege on one side, closing of border with Egypt and continued provocations toward Israel by Hamas; warns that another war may be brewing. MORE

Mar. 3, 2015

Three Israelis and six Palestinians are indicted in connection with smuggling ring that provided unauthorized raw materials to Gaza; Israeli authorities say materials were intended to build military infrastructure for Hamas. MORE

Feb. 8, 2015

Dalia Shurrub, who lives in southern Gaza, is prohibited from seeing her fiance Rashed Sameer Faddah, who lives in West Bank, because of border restrictions; thousands of Palestinians are suffering from separation of two territories especially since Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007; exits through Israel are strictly controlled, limited only for humanitarian cases. MORE

Jan. 21, 2015

Israel's state comptroller says investigation is underway into moves by military and political leaders during 50-day war with Hamas in Gaza in 2014; statement is country's latest attempt to stop International Criminal Court inquiry into its conduct. MORE

Jan. 15, 2015

Competing checkpoints run by Palestinian Authority and militant group Hamas at border of Gaza and Israel have come to represent fragmentation among Palestinians and breakdown of reconciliation pact established in 2014; pact, signed in April, was intended to establish consensus government, but divisions have remained. MORE

Dec. 29, 2014

Hamas turns back 37 Gaza war orphans who were hoping to enter Israel as part of goodwill trip; visit was organized by Yoel Marshak of Kibbutz Movement and was approved by Israel. MORE

Dec. 25, 2014

One Palestinian militant is killed and an Israeli soldier wounded during clash at Gaza border; attack, which Israel claims was triggered by Palestinian sniper attack during routine border patrol, is most serious confrontation between Israel and Hamas since cease-fire began in August. MORE

Dec. 24, 2014

Roger Cohen Op-Ed column describes speaking with Tzipi Livni, Israel's lead negotiator, about collapsed negotiations between Israel and Palestinians; notes that Livni attributes failure of negotiations to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who soured talks both by joining 15 international agencies and announcing reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. MORE

Dec. 20, 2014

Israeli military says it carried out airstrike on Hamas site in Gaza in retaliation for rocket fired into Israel. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

European Union's General Court reverses bloc's designation of militant Palestinian group Hamas as terrorist organization, straining relations with Israel; court's decision coincides with increased European impatience with stalled Middle East peace effort and with European Parliament's vote to recognize Palestinian statehood in principal. MORE

Dec. 7, 2014

Israeli military orders eight additional criminal investigations into conduct of its forces during its war with Hamas in Gaza; investigations come after withering accusations of war crimes by Amnesty International, and ahead of inquiry by United Nations Human Rights Council. MORE

Nov. 28, 2014

Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet says it has exposed an extensive Hamas military infrastructure in West Bank that was planning to carry out attacks on Israelis but offers no evidence; there is no immediate comment from Hamas leaders in Gaza or from officials in the Palestinian Authority, which dominates in the West Bank and, despite the formation of a unity government with Hamas, essentially remains its rival. MORE

Nov. 8, 2014

Series of small explosions at homes and headquarters of several Fatah leaders in Gaza cause little damage and no casualties but heightens tensions with longtime rival Hamas; timing of anonymous attacks, days before 10th anniversary of death of Yasir Arafat, leave many people skeptical about Hamas's denial. MORE

Nov. 5, 2014

Amnesty International publishes report accusing Israel of war crimes in its 50-day war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip; says military showed 'callous indifference' to civilians in airstrikes on homes that felled entire families. MORE

Oct. 29, 2014

More than half the employees of former Hamas government in the Gaza strip will receive salaries for the first time in months after Qatar donates $30 million for that purpose; payment will address a major point of tension between Palestinian political factions that had threatened reconciliation pact they signed in the spring. MORE

Oct. 22, 2014

United Nations Sec Gen Ban Ki-moon will set up investigation into attacks on UN facilities during Israel's latest war against Hamas in Gaza; will also investigate the use of United Nations sites to store weapons. MORE

Oct. 15, 2014

United Nations Sec Gen Ban Ki-moon, visiting Gaza for first time since 50-day war between Israel and Hamas, describes destruction as 'beyond description'; harsh criticism of Israel comes despite newly begun reconstruction efforts; Ban states endless cycle of building and destruction in region must come to an end. MORE

Oct. 13, 2014

International donor conference in Cairo on reconstructing Gaza garners $5.4 billion in pledges; diplomats warn effort to rebuild Palestinian enclave could be jeopardized unless diplomatic solution is found to break cycle of violence between militant group Hamas and Israel. MORE

Oct. 11, 2014

Editorial submits task of rebuilding Gaza after 50-day war that damaged homes, businesses and infrastructure presents sizable challenges; questions point of rebuilding when region will only be destroyed in next war; contends reconstruction must be linked to permanent cease-fire and be designed so that it strengthens Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas, moderates committed to peace with Israel, while weakening Hamas, Israel’s implacable enemy. MORE

Oct. 10, 2014

Palestinian Prime Min Rami Hamdallah convenes first meeting of cabinet in Gaza in move meant to signal more involvement of West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in running enclave after seven years of control by Hamas; display of Palestinian unity is largely intended to inspire confidence ahead of an international donors’ conference for the reconstruction of Gaza. MORE

Oct. 1, 2014

Thomas L Friedman Op-Ed column reiterates argument for how Israeli-Palestinian conflict is smaller scale version of wider East-West clash of civilizations; notes that Israel's policy of containment with respect to Hamas militants prefigured strategy of American-led coalition confronting Islamic State; makes distinction between modern containment versus containment used to defeat the Soviet Union. MORE

Sep. 26, 2014

Leaders of rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah say they have agreed to resolve their differences and allow the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza Strip so reconstruction can begin, but offer no specifics. MORE

Sep. 24, 2014

Israeli forces corner and kill Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha, two Palestinian men suspected of kidnapping and murdering three Israeli teenagers in June; suspects refused to surrender after Israeli units surrounded their hiding place in the West Bank city of Hebron; two men, affiliates of Hamas, are hailed as heroes at their funerals. MORE

Sep. 20, 2014

Deadly shipwreck of boat in Mediterranean carrying 500 migrants has shined light on exodus of Palestinians from Gaza in wake of most recent war between Israel and Hamas; at least 1,000 Palestinians have left Gaza in past three months. MORE

Sep. 19, 2014

Closing arguments are made in landmark terrorism-financing trial that pits victims of terrorist attacks in Middle East against Arab Bank; jury, to hold the bank liable, must find that the bank's support of Hamas was direct consequence of the terrorism events. MORE

Sep. 15, 2014

Israel's destruction of residential high-rise in Gaza City during fighting with Hamas left 500 people without their homes and with dimmed hopes for the future; Israel claims building was Hamas command center, but residents say that Hamas had ties only to a single apartment. MORE

Sep. 12, 2014

Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas says that he has reached a deal with Israel and the United Nations to allow imports of reconstruction materials into the Gaza Strip, apparently bypassing Hamas to fulfill key tenet of cease-fire agreement that halted hostilities on Aug 26; Palestinian leaders estimate reconstruction costs at $7 billion and have planned an international donor conference for October. MORE

Sep. 12, 2014

Shukry Bishara, Palestinian finance minister and former executive at Arab Bank, testifies that bank forwarded money to families affected by Palestinian uprising; 300 plaintiffs are accusing Arab Bank of knowingly handling transactions for terrorists, in the first civil trial of a bank under the Anti-Terrorism Act. MORE

Sep. 11, 2014

Israel announces it has begun criminal investigations into five instances of possible military misconduct in the 50-day Gaza war; it is implicit acknowledgment of sensitivity to widespread criticism, even among allies like the United States, that Israeli forces used excessive firepower in some highly publicized assaults in the Palestinian territory. MORE

Sep. 8, 2014

Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas assails Hamas at meeting of Arab League, accusing it of running shadow government in Gaza; remarks call into question durability of unity pact between the two factions, and potentially complicate reconstruction of Gaza Strip. MORE

Sep. 5, 2014

Erez Crossing Journal; Erez crossing, at the Israel-Gaza border, can handle up to 45,000 travelers a day, but the station is used by maybe 400; Israel sharply reduced the number of exit permits as part of a broader clampdown after Hamas wrested control of Gaza in 2007. MORE

Sep. 5, 2014

Israeli documents cite no evidence that top Hamas leaders had prior knowledge of plot involving the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers, which helped fuel biggest escalation in Palestinian-Israeli tensions in years; Hussam Qawasmeh is indicted and described as the logistical commander of the kidnapping squad; members of clan in Hebron, West Bank city that has often been a flash point of Israeli-Palestinian tensions, are said to have carried out the plot. MORE

Sep. 5, 2014

Sep. 4, 2014

Hamas, militant Islamist faction in Gaza that led the battle against Israel, is enjoying spike in popular support after cease-fire halted 50 days of fighting, despite fact that Palestinians' basic needs like electricity and clean water are still scarce; residents seem to be holding Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas and his rival Fatah faction responsible for destruction, since many Hamas leaders themselves have been on the front lines and suffered losses of their own. MORE

Sep. 3, 2014

Israel says that it has killed several hundred Hamas militants during 50-day war in Gaza, and that militants still have as many as 3,000 rockets on hand. MORE

Aug. 30, 2014

News analysis; each side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed victory, yet Hamas failed to win concessions it demanded and Israeli citizens feel more insecure than before the start of the 50-day war. MORE

Aug. 29, 2014

More than one million people have downloaded free app Red Alert, which tracks rocket fire from Gaza that alerts users with a siren similar to those heard in the south of Israel; Red Alert is the best known of several such smartphone apps. MORE

Aug. 27, 2014

Israeli and Palestinian leaders reach open-ended cease-fire agreement that promises only limited change to conditions in Gaza and leaves broader issues underpinning the conflict unresolved; Hamas declared victory even though it abandoned most of its demands, accepting Egyptian-brokered deal that differed little from one proffered on battle's seventh day. MORE

Aug. 26, 2014

Mary McGowan Davis, former Supreme Court justice in New York State, will join a three-person United Nations Human Rights Council panel investigating possible international law violations by Israel and Hamas in Gaza conflict. MORE

Aug. 25, 2014

Palestinian teenager Ahmed Jamal Abu Raida says Israeli soldiers detained him for five days, forcing him to sleep blindfolded and handcuffed and to search and dig for Hamas tunnels near Gaza's eastern border; his assertions, if true, violate both international law and 2005 Israeli Supreme Court ruling. MORE

Aug. 25, 2014

Israeli missile strike in Gaza reportedly kills Muhammad al-Ghoul, Hamas official who handles its financial transactions; attack is latest in string of Israeli airstrikes based on what appears to be precise intelligence about movements of some Hamas operatives who have emerged from their bunkers as the more intensive fighting has subsided. MORE

Aug. 25, 2014

Op-Ed article by Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, holds Qatar's lavish support of Hamas represents the single biggest obstacle to a peace agreement in Gaza; contends the oil-rich gulf state has been using its vast wealth to leverage influence and destabilize rivals, choosing radical groups like Hamas as proxies; calls on global community to isolate Qatar until it revises its tactics. MORE

Aug. 24, 2014

Israeli missile strike on 11-story apartment tower in Gaza City brings down entire building; attack signals Israel's willingness to take more audacious military action in Gaza as Palestinian militants continue to fire barrages of rockets and mortar rounds into Israel. MORE

Aug. 23, 2014

As many as 18 Palestinians suspected of collaboration with Israel are summarily executed in public in Gaza by masked gunmen, day after intelligence coup enabled Israel to kill three top commanders of Hamas's armed wing. MORE

Aug. 23, 2014

Discussions at United Nations have intensified over possible Security Council resolution that would end fighting in Gaza and attract broad-based support, including from the United States. MORE

Aug. 22, 2014

Israel kills three top commanders of Hamas's armed wing in predawn strikes and calls up 10,000 reservists, display that makes clear its advantage in conflict; Hamas, in return, launches barrage of largely ineffective rockets. MORE

Aug. 22, 2014

Joshua Faudem testifies at trial in Brooklyn about 2003 bombing of bar in Tel Aviv, where he worked; around 300 plaintiffs are accusing Arab Bank of knowingly financing terrorism by maintaining accounts associated with Hamas. MORE

Aug. 21, 2014

Fate of Hamas military wing's commander in chief Muhammad Deif remains mystery after Israeli warplanes drop at least five bombs on house in Gaza City, killing one of his wives and a baby son; airstrike is at least fifth Israeli attempt to assassinate Deif. MORE

Heidi Levine’s coverage of the conflict in Gaza earned her the first Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award, which honors the Associated Press photographer killed while working in Afghanistan.